Harry Potter's year of discovery
by gryphus1ace
Summary: What would've happened if harry potter and draco malfoy had gotten on more friendly terms before the start of their 1st school year? What if there was more love in the world? My take on what could have been. Most of the main events will be canon, but there will be some plot changes that I feel like mixing up, and well...who knows? :) First few chapters are mostly canon.
1. Chapter 1- A new beginning

Introductory note

So, this is just an idea that has been nagging at me. After reading for so long on this site, I just felt the urge to write. As stated in the summary, most main events will be canon, however, the friendships and bonds and drama will be twisted a bit. Will update more later. This is my first real attempt at writing a story, so bear with me :D

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Disclaimer: Right, first thing's first. This is purely for entertainment purposes, and as such, all characters and the world of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. I am not profiting in any way by this story. I do not own Harry potter, and therefore, all rights belong to her.

**_Prologue_**

A manicured lawn, sprinklers that go off every sunday, a colorful garden of flowers. These were all signs of a normal family living in a normal home. If you took one look at number 4 Privet drive, you wouldn't be able to see anything different from the houses that lined up on either side of it. If you saw who lived in it, you would have no doubt that it was a perfectly fine family.

The father, a rather large man with virtually no neck and a very big mustache, was the director of Grunnings, a firm that made drills. The wife, thin and blonde, had a very long neck and had a knack for spying on the other neighbors. Indeed, these two people seemed to contradict each other on appearances. The two parents had a son named Dudley. Short, fat, and spoiled, he was everything you _didn't _want in a son. However, in the eyes of the two parents, he was one of the finest boys around, and they couldn't shower him with enough praises.

Finally, there was that boy. He was hardly ever seen outside the house, and when he was, the neighbors didn't look at him twice. The boy, of course, was none other than Harry Potter. At first glance, he didn't seem like much. A bit on the small side for an 11 year old, he was thin, wore crooked glasses, and had brown hair that never seemed to be able to be straightened. However, if you looked at his eyes, his green eyes, which were just like his mother's, who had died protecting him, you would see that it told of pain. Ten long years of pain and resentment.

Indeed, this boy was the reason that the members of the house were anything but normal.

Ten years ago, the dark lord murdered James and Lily Potter. Ten years ago, the dark lord was struck by his own rebounding killing curse when he cast it on the boy. The curse shattered part of the house, and even today, it is untouched as a monument to what the Potters faced that fateful night. But at that time, when the killing curse struck him, the dark lord had then all but vanished, forced to live life as little more than a spirit, and he would remain this way for quite some time until much later. As for the boy, well, he didn't seem at all affected except for a scar on his head, where the curse hit. A lightning-shaped scar that would, in time, signify much more.

Shortly after Harry Potter 'vanquished' the dark lord, parties sprung up everywhere. The entire wizarding world was celebrating that, finally, after a long time, the dark lord's reign of terror had ended. People all over the country were getting back to themselves after being imperioused, families across the country were weeping tears of joy at the news. They thought that he was finally gone for for good. Vanquished, defeated, vaporized. Their troubles were gone. How wrong they were.


	2. Chapter 2- How depressing

Disclaimer: This is purely for entertainment purposes, and as such, all characters and the world of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. I am not profiting in any way by this story. I do not own Harry potter, and therefore, all rights belong to her.

A/N: I don't want to confuse you, so while this is technically 'chapter 1', I will put this as chapter 2 simply because it fits with the chapters button.

Chapter 2

"Oi! Get up in 5 minutes, or I'll beat the lot out of you!" uncle Vernon's gruff voice shouted at the door.

"I'm getting up," said Harry, somewhat resigned. Of course, how could he forget? Today was the day of Dudley's birthday and he'd be hard-pressed to forget it after his relatives drilled it into him for the past week. It was disgusting how, every year, they gave him an absurdly large amount of gifts and basically fawned over him. What's worse, he would pout if he got less than what he deemed was satisfactory. Every year, on Dudley's birthday, they would spend half the morning going over presents and eating cake. Later, Vernon and Petunia would invite one of Dudley's friends, and they would go to some sort of place for fun and relaxation, most times a theme park or a zoo. This day was no different.

Today, they would visit a zoo near the east of Surrey, one that was quite famous for its various snakes, both rare and , if he was fortunate, would be spending the day at Mrs. Figg's house. On certain days, when the rest of the family was busy, he would be sent to Mrs. Figg's house to be taken care of for a few hours. He did not mind this in the least, as it meant that he didn't have to hear two to three hours of insults hurled at him. Mrs. Figg always had cookies or tea when he came over, and the place always smelled strongly of cats. However, that made sense since he _had_ seen cats once or twice inside the house. Apart from mundane things, they really had nothing much to talk about. They would talk for perhaps five or ten minutes, and then most of the visit would be in silence, with Harry sitting on the couch while Mrs. Figg ran off to do other things. Nonetheless, he was glad for the company. Really, anything was better than being in the company of the Dursley's.

He was broken by his musings by a rather loud knock on his cupboard door.

"We are not telling you again, get up now! I won't have you ruining Dudley's birthday, you lazy, good-for-nothing runt!" aunt petunia said in that girly shriek of hers before going away.

Harry sighed, surely it couldn't have been that long? Maybe two or three minutes at most. Nonetheless, he turned on the light in his cupboard and, after swatting away the cobwebs, starting dressing. His clothes were far too big for his size, leading him to look like a poor beggar. They were hand-me-downs from Dudley, who always got what he wanted no matter what the cost, Harry thought bitterly.

When he finally emerged from the cupboard, he saw Dudley on the floor of the living room, counting his presents. Petunia and Vernon were nowhere to be seen, probably in the kitchen. He had almost entered the living room when his aunt and uncle came back from the kitchen.

Before his uncle could say anything, Dudley whined "How come there's only 32 presents this year? That's worse than last year."

"Oh, I'm sorry duddykins, but we thought that since you're growing up, you wouldn't want as much." aunt petunia responded and went to Dudley's side to try and comfort him.

"But mom, this year really has been awful to me. Don't you think that I've dealt with enough already?" Dudley said and put on his best pouting face.

"Eh, give him a break Petunia, I do agree that this year he deserves extra presents for his troubles. Don't worry Dudley, tonight, you'll have 5 more presents gift-wrapped and ready to go." Vernon said to try and appease his son.

"Oh, alright, but it better be good." Dudley lightened considerably at this and went to go eat. Vernon chuckled heartily and gave a wink at Petunia.

Harry snorted to himself quietly. The only two things that had happened to Dudley this year was one, he came back with his report card one day, and his grades were so low that his teachers recommended getting private tutors or signing up for remedial courses. Vernon and Petunia had obviously scoffed at this and said that it was the teacher's fault they couldn't teach such a talented boy, and went off for hours on end both comforting the boy and insulting his teachers. The other incident was a run-in with the law. Harry didn't hear much, as he was constantly confined in his cupboard, but he did get some snatches of conversation that said that Dudley was held at the police station for quite a while for harassing a girl on the streets. Naturally, to them, Dudley was the sweetest person on earth and wouldn't harm a soul. If only they saw what happens when Dudley was frequently alone with Harry. The boy often intimidated Harry, and took pleasure in hitting him and causing him pain. In addition, whenever something bad happened, he would frequently blame it on Harry. He enjoyed seeing Harry getting beat up.

He wasn't alone either. Whenever his gang showed up, with his most frequent accomplice being piers poltkiss, they would constantly chase Harry down, hitting him whenever they could and trying to stuff his face down toilets. Indeed, whenever Dudley's gang came over, he would be quite happy to be shut up in his cupboard, as then, he wouldn't have to deal with Dudley and his gang of idiots. Harry really couldn't understand how Dudley managed to make it this far. He was by far the most stupidest of the gang, and if his grades were any indication, he was very close to being kicked out of school. In addition, he was sort of the school bully, and attended the same school that Harry did. For this reason, Harry had no friends as, while indeed big and stupid, Dudley's gang did instill some fear into the students, and seeing as how Dudley constantly picked on Harry at school, the other kids wanted to stay as far away from him as possible, so they wouldn't become their next target.

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Harry, like most of the time, spent most of the morning in his cupboard just wondering about life in general when someone knocked on the door.

"Get up, it's time to go." he heard Vernon grunt.

Harry actually didn't mind today, as it was planned that while Dudley and his friend Piers Poltkiss was to visit the zoo, he would be sent to Mrs. Figg's house. After all, any company was better than the Dursley's. That all changed though, when he caught sight of Vernon's now purple face.

"Mrs. Figg broke her leg, so she can't take you. This leaves us no other choice. No one else would take your sorry bum, so you're coming with us." Vernon spat in his face.

"You are not to bother Dudley in any way, shape, or form. You are not to touch him, you will not speak, you will not even look at him. Are we understood?" Vernon said in a dangerously low voice.

"Yes," replied Harry in as even a tone as possible, although in his mind he was nervous with excitement. Dudley never missed a chance to brag to Harry about how cool his birthdays were, and how he went to the most amazing places. Ha! That'll teach Dudley, Harry thought. As expected, Dudley pretended to cry.

"I don't want him to go with us...h-he ruins e-everything!"

"Oh, I'm sorry Dudders, but there's nothing we can do. Now, you try and make the best of it and forget about that ungrateful little rat, ok? Let mommy and Daddy take of this." Petunia said, trying to console Dudley, and glared at Harry. Even this action could not dampen Harry's spirits. He was going, on a trip, to the zoo! He was finally going to see what Dudley had bragged about to him all these years.

Ironically enough, Dudley's friend Piers Poltkiss, who looked like a rat, rang the doorbell and they all went to the front door to prepare for the upcoming trip, Harry bouncing off his toes in excitement. Little did they know that they would be in for much more than a simple trip to the zoo.


	3. Chapter 3- The unexpected

Disclaimer: This is purely for entertainment purposes, and as such, all characters and the world of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. I am not profiting in any way by this story. I do not own Harry potter, and therefore, all rights belong to her.

Chapter 3

He couldn't believe his luck. Even after he got in the car, even after they arrived at the zoo, he still thought this was all surreal and pinched himself multiple times to ensure that, no, this wasn't a dream. The Dursely's attitude towards him did dampen his mood a bit, but overall, he felt himself giddy at the thought of being on this trip. He wondered what would await him at the zoo. Would he see alligators, perhaps? Or maybe a wild species of monkey? He was eager to see everything. It wasn't long till they arrived.

"I'm warning you boy, one step out of line today, and you'll regret ever being concieved. You got me?" Vernon said to him in an undertone.

Harry simply nodded. It wasn't like he could stop it even if he did some weird, out-of-this-world stuff. It had happened multiple times before in his miserable life. A couple of years ago, Petunia got somewhat frustrated after a trip to the Barber's, saying that the Barber did absolutely nothing on cutting Harry's hair. Harry freaked out when Petunia decided to cut his hair herself and by the time she was finished, he looked like a ragged mass, straight from the streets. It was obvious Petunia wanted him to look as unattractive as possible. Harry went to bed thinking of ways to explain his hair problem to his school mates and teachers, but by the time he woke up in the morning, his hair miracously went back to normal length, concealing part of his scar. He couldn't explain why it had happened, and Harry, although he was mystefied by what happened, did like what happened. Nonetheless, this did lead to nearly a month in the cupboard. Alas, after that incident, many odd, or 'freakish' things, as vernon called them, happened. And each time, he couldn't explain it, and would promptly be locked in the cupboard as punishment.

Of course, Dudley being who he was, went straight to the gorillas section of the zoo. Harry really shouldn't have been surprised at this. 'Maybe he ought to get together with a female one. After all, he certainly has an IQ close to them.' Harry mused.

After lunch, they went to the reptile house. Dudley wanted to see all the poisonous snakes in the zoo. When harry arrived, he saw Dudley looking at a huge monstrous snake that easily could have eaten Dudley and still be hungry. He was tapping on the glass, trying to make it wake up.

"Come on, I paid money for this. Why can't you sleep at night." Dudley whined. When it became clear the snake had no intentions of waking up, he went to look at the other snakes in the zoo.

Harry looked intently at the snake after Dudley left. He didn't know why, but it felt as if the snake was faking being asleep. He was just about to go when the snake promptly rose its head and winked at him. Harry did a double take. Did it just _wink _at him? He was still wondering if it was real or not when it started talking to him.

"I get that _all_ the time. It gets rather annoying, so I just feign being asleep. Works quite well." The snake said in a humorous tone.

"I know, I feel really bad. Must be, eh? So..uh...where are you from?" Harry replied.

In response, he saw the snake flick its tail toward the left. There, on a plaque, read: _**Boa**__** Constrictor,** **Panama**_.

"Oh, I see. Must be a lovely place. You been there before?" Harry asked.

"Nah, I was raised in captivity all my life. Sooo boring, really, I would do anything to get out of this dump of a country." The Boa replied.

"Well, I guess, if you were stuck here all your life, I'd have negative feelings too." Harry shrugged. At that moment, it really didn't occur to Harry that he was actually talking to a snake. It didn't occur to him that this wasn't normal. He simply was enjoying the snake's company.

"Oi, Dudley, come here! Check out what this snake's doing!" Piers Poltkiss suddenly called out. He noticed Harry and the snake exchanging hisses. 'Rather odd,' he thought.

Dudley soon came over this way, knocking Harry to the ground.

"Move, you little runt, this is my birthday." Dudley said, then pressed his face to the glass.

It all happened so fast, Harry could barely keep up.

No sooner had Dudley pressed his face to the glass, than the glass protecting the snake vanished, and Dudley fell in. The snake quickly uncoiled and headed for the exit, passing Harry on the way.

"Thankss mate, I'm off for Panama. I'll see you there sometime, eh?" The snake hissed to him.

Harry could only dumbly nod, still shocked at what the hell just happened. Like before, this was yet another one of those 'freak' incidents. Harry was sure he was never going to get out of the cupboard for this one.

The zoo manager had apologized over and over again, utterly bewildered as to where exactly the glass went. He bought the entire family 2 servings of ice cream, and shortly after, the Dursley's left the zoo.

The trip back home was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop.

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a/n: will update more later

a/n #2: might seem somewhat boring at first..diagon alley is where the changes actually begin..in a chapter or two


	4. Chapter 4- A letter? Impossible

Disclaimer: This is purely for entertainment purposes, and as such, all characters and the world of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. I am not profiting in any way by this story. I do not own Harry potter, and therefore, all rights belong to her.

Chapter 4

When Piers Poltkiss finally left the house, Harry began to feel queasy. He knew what was coming. A purple-faced uncle Vernon hurling insults at the speed of light while slapping him repeatedly. He wasn't a stranger to this kind of treatment. With a sigh of resignation, he went to the living room to await the huge outburst that was to inevitably follow.

He was pleasantly surprised, however, when they came in and the first thing Vernon said was,

"You. Cupboard. Now. You stay there and don't leave."

Trying quickly to mask his look of confusion, Harry didn't need to be told twice. He quickly left the living room for the cupboard and locked himself in, pondering over all that happened today. Outside, he could hear Vernon screaming in rage, and he heard more than one plate fall to the floor. Harry snorted. 'They're gonna have to clean the mess themselves. There is no way in hell I'm doing that.' It wasn't like he could stop it or anything. Today proved that he did virtually nothing. And yet, Vernon seemed content to punish him nonetheless. Although, at the moment, he didn't really do anything, being too angry to do much other than getting red in the face. However, while he was pondering, he began to really think about all the strange incidences that happened. He certainly was abnormal. Nothing ever happened to his relatives or the people he saw at school. And sometimes, he had strange dreams. Dreams that would involve a high pitched scream and a flash of green light. It was quite strange really. 'Why does this always seem to happen to me,' Harry groaned.

It was also somewhat depressing too. Other than his relatives, he had no one to go to that could help him find his family. His true family. He didn't consider his aunt and uncle family. For the past ten years, all they had done was torment him, telling him that he was a freak of nature, and shouldn't be alive. At first, he couldn't really displace why they were so mean to him, but eventually, he learned to just accept it as it is after he asked one question that particularly made him think. He asked uncle Vernon "Why do you hate me so much?", and in return, his response was "Boy, just consider yourself lucky that we took you in, otherwise you'd be living on the streets right now, begging for food and shelter." He knew it was twisted logic, but at the time, it seemed to make sense, and he would always think about what he said that night whenever they treated him badly, which was quite a lot. He stayed in the cupboard, just laying down on his bed and staring at the darkness, for a long, long time. He didn't know if days, or weeks, or months had gone by.

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Harry eventually got out of the cupboard, but it took a long time, and by the time he was out, it was already nearing the end of July and half the summer had went by. It was, to date, the longest punishment he had. It wasn't all that bad though, seeing as while he was shut up in his cupboard the whole time, he didn't need to hear the shrieks of Aunt Petunia or the shouts of Uncle Vernon. Indeed, some days, he just laid there in absolute bliss. It was very comforting at times.

The day of July 31st came, and to be honest, he didn't really care. He knew it was his birthday, but as far as his relatives, he never got any special treatment, or cake, or anything. He still did the chores, he still cooked for them, it was just another miserable day for him. As he went to the kitchen, he saw Dudley and his parents watching an F1 race. Apparently it was taking place in Monaco. He didn't get too far to the kitchen, however, as Vernon barked out "Oi, you boy, go get the mail!". "Make Dudley get it," Harry argued. He was already fat enough as it was. In return, Dudley simply said "No," and started poking Harry with new Smeltings stick until Harry finally left. He sighed. He should've known he would't ever win in the first place. 'At least I get to be rid of Dudley for a while,' Harry thought. He and Dudley were finished with Primary school, and they would be going their seperate ways come September. Harry would be going to a public school named Townsend, while Dudley would be going to a private one named Smeltings. The school Dudley was going to go to gave him a new uniform and even a new stick. Harry on the other hand, got a bunch of hand-me-downs, as always, courtesy of Dudley. He couldn't wait to go to school in those, where he would promptly be laughed at all over again.

He went to get the mail, and as usual, saw the typical Saturday mail. Apparently, Uncle Vernon's firm was doing well. Harry smirked. He was just thinking about burning it when something fell to the ground. Picking it up, he saw it was addressed to him:

Mr. Harry Potter

Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging

The cupboard under the stairs

Picking it up, he felt a strange mix of unease and excitement. On one hand, there was an actual letter that was addressed to him. This had never happened before, so he was quite excited at the thought of reading it. On the other hand, how could they possibly know that he lived in the cupboard under the stairs? Was somebody spying on him? Tracking his every move in secret up to now? He quickly shut the door and entered the living room. He gave the letters to Vernon and started opening his letter when it was quickly snatched away from him.

"Hey! What are you doing? Give that back, it's mine!" Harry shouted, and tried in vain to get it back from his uncle's snatches.

"Shut up! You'll get to see it after I'm done with it! Who the hell would ever want to write to you anyway?" Vernon said angrily.

And so, Harry lay seething there for a minute until he saw his uncle's face turn pink, then red, then a brilliant shade of purple. Harry, who had never seen his uncle's face change color so fast, forgot about being angry and was a bit curious as to what exactly the letter contained. Finally, after about a minute of being stock-still, his uncle said in a dangerous voice, "Board up the windows and the mailbox. As for you, boy, you're moving up to Dudley's old room. No questions." Vernon quickly left for the kitchens, Petunia hurrying after him.

To say both boys were shocked beyond belief was an understatement. Harry thought he was going to read the letter. What could possibly be in that letter that would cause him to behave like that? He knew Vernon wouldn't give Harry anything of Dudley's unless hell froze over. Dudley, on the other hand, thought, with all the face coloration changes that Vernon went through, Harry would be punished once more. To have that denied, along with the fact that he was going to have to give the skinny runt his old room, was a bit too much for Dudley, and he promptly fainted.

Harry wasted no time. Although he was quite furious at not being able to read the letter, the prospect of getting a room to himself was quite enticing, and, in one trip, he managed get all his belongings to his new room. No longer would he have to wake up in complete darkness. No longer would he see cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. he didn't know what was in the letter, but he was already grateful for it.

As he observed his new room, he saw most of the things in the room were broken by Dudley himself. 'Too bad the computer was broken,' thought Harry. Downstairs, he could hear Dudley crying. No doubt, he didn't want harry to get anything from him, and the fact that he just got his old room was a bit much. As he lay on the bed, waiting for the sun to set, he couldn't help but observe that the room was quite spacious, and he would have room to stretch and hide his stuff should it be needed. It even had a window for him to look out of. Things were definitely improving, for once in his life.

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Update: Hey guys, I might not be able to update this week. It depends on if I have time. My time is very limited right now because I am preparing to go to college and I have essays to do, college apps to fill out, etc. Nonetheless, I will not forget about this and try my best to update ASAP. Thanks.


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